Exercise The Fountain of Youth

“I'm too old to exercise”. Who among us has not heard this excuse? It’s too bad that people take the path of least resistance as they grow older. Perhaps they defeated inside and think that there is nothing they can do to change their current health? Not only is this thinking wrong, it also can have a negative impact on how fast they age.

Can Exercise Slow Aging?

Let me share the results of a 6 month long study where researchers compared muscle strength between healthy, sedentary younger and healthy, active older men and women. Skeletal muscle biopsies of the vastus lateralis (a quadriceps muscle) were also taken. The exercise program consisted 3 sets of a total body strength training program starting at 50% 1RM and progressing to 80%. Exercise machines (not free weights) were used. People exercised twice a week.

Prior to exercise, the older adults were on average 59% weaker than their younger counterparts. After 6 months of strength training, older adults were only 39% weaker. So, they became stronger! No surprise there. Several other studies have also noted that older adults (even older than 90 years old) can improve strength by resistance training.

What makes this investigation even more intriguing was the researchers saw in the muscle biopsies.

The researchers noted that resistance training changed the way genes were expressed. Specifically, genes that were normally turned on with the “healthy aging” were turned off by exercise training; conversely, genes that would normally be turned off by aging were activated again. In other words, the older adults effectively started to grow younger at the genetic level!

Epigenetics

Many people have heard about DNA and genetics. But, few have heard the term “epigenetics”

Think of it this way. Your computer has an operating system (Windows or Mac) that contains instructions on how to do things. Your computer also has software (like Microsoft Word for example) that tells the operating system what to do and when to do it. We work the same way.

Think of your DNA as your operating system. What you do with your life – eating right, reducing stress, not smoking etc. – actually influence your DNA such that “bad genes” can be deactivated and “good genes” can be turned on. The result – a healthier,”younger” you!

Conversely, being unhealthy, turns on bad gene (cancer etc).

What’s even spookier about is that what you do now not only appears to affect your genetic expression BUT ALSO your children AND grandchildren too!

Research with rats seems to show this to be true and its possible the same thing happens with us. OK so much about your decedents, what about you, right now?

Is Exercise The Fountain Of Youth?

America is currently a nation that is “growing old” with the fastest growing segment of the older population being those over the age of 85. Unfortunately many people residing nursing homes are also over the age of 85. So, medical technology helps us live longer but for many, the quality of those lives leaves a lot to be desired.

Sarcopenia –this is muscle loss as we grow older and it has profound negative implications for not only long term quality of life but in my opinion, national security as well.

I’m very serious when I say National Security! Think about it; who will fight America’s wars in 50 years if we are all too old and too weak to do anything?

Most people have never heard of sarcopenia – a condition that everybody eventually gets! Why have so few people heard about a disorder which starts in our 40s? Sarcopenia increases the risk that other diseases will kill us. For this reason I call sarcopenia a “gateway disorder”.

In this age of universal health care the estimated cost of treating sarcopenia-related health issues is approximately 18 billion dollars a year. This cost will grow over the next decade. As we move less the rate of diseases increases so sarcopenia is a “gateway disorder” that increases the risk that other conditions will kill us.

What if there was a drug that we could take that would significantly reduce the risk of all major diseases? That drug exists right now and its called exercise. Let me prove this fact to you.

Exercise also improves HDL levels. HDL is called “good cholesterol” because it transports excess cholesterol out of the blood so it can be recycled. But HDL also helps us by improving levels of Nitric Oxide which keeps blood vessels open. This helps reduce heart disease.

The list goes on and but you get the picture. We are never too old to exercise.

The fact is that people have within their grasp right now a Free Medication that not only can keep many out of nursing homes, but, according to many studies, can help them literally grow younger!

If a drug was invented tomorrow that did this, how much would you pay for it?

I strongly feel that the message about the benefits of physical activity does not get out to the American public as aggressively as it should. This is a spectrum wide defect that impacts most of the health care industry – including personal trainers.

For some reason we place the benefits of pharmaceuticals and other “after ailment” treatment options ahead of cheaper and more effective preventative strategies like exercise and eating well.

If you are a personal trainer, health is your business! You are on the front lines of educating people about how to stay healthy. If all you do is make people workout you are not helping them. In fact you are hurting them because if people dont know the reasons why they have to do something, they wont keep doing it.

Ask people– no matter what their age – if they knew that exercise can alter their genes and help them grow younger and reduce the risk of practically every major disease. I'll bet most people have never been empowered with this message. That's probably because there is no “National Grow Younger Day”. And that’s sad.

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Comments

Hi Joe! I love this article so much. Is there anyway I can please post a link to it on my Facebook page. The epigenetics part continues to blow me away as I have known for years that this was true, although I did not know the exact science behind it. I am so proud of my beautiful daughter who is following in my footsteps and exercising 4-5 days a week. She has also become very nutrition conscious as she is studying to become a massage therapist. Sorry to digress. Even if I could use a quote would be great. I look forward to meeting you at the convention.

Wow, see they could just do a study on us to prove the point.
I found an excellent site to study anatomy and physiology at http://www.getbodysmart.com. They have complete tutorials with quizzes on all of the human body systems. Lots and lots of info, with chemistry as well.

This is a great article. What is really spooky is what you said about how the genetic expression affects your children and grandchildren too. My own maternal grandmother used to perform 100 squats each night before bed while she was in her 60’s and 70’s. She lived to be 99 years old.

It’s no fluke that both my brother and I are really into physical fitness. He reminded me about the squats when I talked about doing 120 of them on the Smith machine. He said squats are “the family exercise.”
I thought that was really interesting because the heredity vs. environment debate wages on. This was like a missing puzzle piece. To experience how this exercise behavior is passed down genetically and behaviorally is fascinating.
I also started my own 21 year old daughter exercising when she was eight. So the cycle goes on. I love your articles.

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Credentials

Joe Cannon, MS has written for several publications including The Journal of Strength and Conditioning, Today's Dietitian, and Prevention. He's been quoted in the New York Times, lectured to NASA and has been a content consultant for Dateline NBC. He's the author of the first book ever published on rhabdomyolysis and exercise.
Joe Cannon, has a BS in Chemistry and Biology and a MS in Exercise Science. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and a personal trainer certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).